Stellar Looks to Acquire Chain for $500 million XLM

Stellar Lumens is currently discussing the possibility of acquiring Chain — a San Francisco-based startup building cryptographic ledgers for the finance industry.

Although it’s unclear how Stellar will utilize this technology, the 7th largest cryptocurrency is willing to part with $500 million worth of XLM for the purchase, according to Fortune. Such a sum is certainly manageable for Stellar — whose current valuation by market cap stands at $4.3 billion.

Founded in 2014, Chain raised more than $43 million in a series of funding rounds with some of the largest names in venture capital — including Khosla Ventures, RRE Ventures, Capital One, Visa, Citigroup, Nasdaq and Orange — France’s main telecommunications company.

What is Chain?

Chain’s blockchain developer platform aims to provide banks and financial institutions the ability to create their own private networks. Where countless blockchain protocols have emerged to offer a superior means of transaction, Chain seeks to package this technology for the finance sector — and is not a blockchain in itself.

Chain acknowledges this distinction as key. While cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are often seen as opponents of traditional finance, CEO Adam Ludwin dismissed this notion:

“People want to believe that there’s going to be this mythical coin that comes out of Silicon Valley that the world starts using and that all of Wall Street just falls into the ocean.”

Chain intends to convince financial heavyweights they are acquiring the infrastructure needed to exist in a decentralizing and digitizing world.

This strategy appears to be working as Nasdaq announced they will use Chain’s technology to build a distributed ledger-based payment system with financial services giant Citi. Announcing the initiative, Nasdaq — the second-largest stock exchange in the world — openly recognized the advantages of blockchain:

“Emerging technologies like Distributed Ledger Technology (“DLT”) are driving digitization and enabling new platforms and blockchain ecosystems that can provide real-time digital solutions.”

Chain’s mission appears to pair well with Stellar, which seeks to integrate blockchain technology into existing financial systems.